Digitisations and Restorations (2) - Schlondorff at Telluride, London Film Festival Treasures, La Notte

1.Telluride Film Festival was on this year from 2-5 September. There’s hot competition for films between Telluride, Toronto, Venice and New York. so let me quote from the Telluride online program.

Volker Schlaudorff

 Each year, Telluride’s Guest Director serves as a key collaborator in the Festival’s programming decisions, bringing new ideas and overlooked films. Past Guest Directors include Laurie Anderson, Geoff Dyer, Buck Henry, Guy Maddin, Michael Ondaatje, Alexander Payne, B. Ruby Rich, Stephen Sondheim, and Caetano Veloso.
This year it’s the Palme d’Or and Oscar winner Volker Schlöndorff. His selection

THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA (d. Joseph Mankiewicz, U.S., 1954), THE FIRE WITHIN/LE FEU FOLLET (d. Louis Malle, France, 1963), I WAS NINETEEN (d. Konrad Wolf, East Germany, 1968), IT WAS THE MONTH OF MAY (d. Marlen Khutsiev, U.S.S.R., 1970),  LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES (d. Jean-Pierre Melville, France, 1950), SPIES (d. Fritz Lang, Germany, 1928)…..

2. London Film Festival has a section called Treasureswhich contains a dozen or so restorations and includes a special Gala screening of a restored version of The Informer  made in 1929 and directed by Arthur Robison. The online notes about the restoration advise: The BFI National Archive’s restoration team have used original nitrate and duplicates to reconstruct the film with its original intertitles and the delicate mauve tint. The new BFI commissioned score is by Irish composer and violist Garth Knox. Garth is at the forefront of the new music scene in many fields, drawing on his vast experience as viola player of the Arditti Quartet and the Ensemble Inter-Contemporain. Composing for a 6 piece ensemble including accordion, flute, Irish pipes and viola d’amore, he brings a wealth of cutting edge composition techniques, whilst also opening up the music of the past with his interest in medieval, baroque and traditional celtic music.

3. At the Film Forum in New York a screening of a restored copy of the middle film in Michelangelo Antonioni’s famous 1960s trilogy, La Notte. Remind yourself of greatness with a look at the Trailer.

Editor’s Note. My thanks to Simon Taaffe for much of this information above and for forthcoming posts.